2009.03.18
RIP Harry Potter (the fish): this betta defied the data
He did not float.
Harry succumbed yesterday, but not to that cliche of fish death. Hadley, my 10-year-old, found him lying on his side on the dayglow gravel at the bottom of his little tank when she went to feed him. One vacant eye was cast upward at the water's surface. We tapped the tank, and only the disturbance in the current moved him.
There were tears. Harper, my 4-year-old, looked into the tank and bawled. Today there will be a small fish funeral.
Harry will be remembered by this data editor as a living example of the outlier -- that freak record in a database that doesn't match with the others. Your typical betta, or Siamese Fighting Fish, lives two or three years.
Harry was six.
We inherited Harry from Hadley's best friend, Tara, when her family moved from Roanoke to Atlanta not quite a year ago. On the way out of town, they stopped by our house and dropped off Harry, a can of food, a gallon of water already treated for use in his tank, and some instructions.
Even then, Harry was past five and already a marvel for it. Hadley fed him dutifully. Harper fought to help out and take a turn feeding him. I changed his water and kept his tank clean. The rest of the time, he circled his little world on the buffet in the dining room.
Lately, though, he circled less, his vivid color began to fade, and he seemed more interested in drifting down to the gravel than looking up expectantly for another food pellet. We knew his time was near.
So here's to the fish named for the Boy who Lived. He was fittingly named, it turned out. Like the young wizard, he defied the odds and just kept going and going.
Farewell to the Fish who Lived.
Hey! I was just saying, I hope the funeral went well.
Harry lived an extremely long life- I wonder if it was record breaking? I'll have to look that up. Bye!
Peace, love, and Beatles,
Tara M.
Comment by Tara M. :-) — March 18, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
[...] entry on Matt Chittum's Datasphere blog made me care very much about a little pet fish. Click hereand read an ode to a little betta that beat the odds and will be sorely missed by his [...]
Pingback by The Happy Wag - Roanoke.com » Do fish wag? — March 18, 2009 @ 3:24 pm
Hey Tara, sorry about ol' Harry. From what I could find, 2-3 years is typical, but in certain conditions -- like a much larger tank, for example -- they can live up to 10 years, according to a few websites out there. Alas, that wasn't Harry's fate.
Comment by Matt Chittum — March 18, 2009 @ 3:54 pm
Daddy,I just read your entry. You forgot to write about how he lived to be 450 in fish years a regular betta only lives 1 year.
(I'm still sad)
Comment by Had — March 18, 2009 @ 5:54 pm
Yes, H-bomb, I left that part out. Sorry about that. But I think my math was wrong. Turns out bettas typically live two or three years, not one year. So, let's say two years for a betta (it's typical life span) is roughly the same as about 75 years for a human (our typical life span). So, Harry living three times that long would be about the same as a person living something like 225 years. So, I guess that would make Harry about 225 in fish years. That's still a long, long time.
Comment by Matt Chittum — March 18, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
Our fish died yesterday too Matt : ( Joshua was very sad. I really like your blogs, they're fun to read.
Comment by Allie S — March 22, 2009 @ 11:28 am
harry potter
Comment by kiki — May 8, 2009 @ 10:41 pm